Fear, death defining Trotto trial

On the police tape, Matteo Trotto sounds friendly, curious and eager to assist.

"I mean, maybe the guy's alive," he tells Deputy Police Chief Steven Sargent, then a captain. "People said he took off cuz of the police... I don't know ... It's hard to believe."

At another point, he tells Capt. Sargent, "The only person who suffers through this is the poor guy's family."

The poor guy in Mr. Trotto's sympathetic scenario is Kevin Harkins, who became an unfortunate victim indeed when he disappeared after being summoned from Suney's Pub in 1994, allegedly by Trotto, who now stands trial for his murder after 20 years of evasion and frustration.

A beefy, hawk-nosed guy with a thick neck and shaved head, Mr. Trotto is either a wannabe Whitey Bulger, or the poor man's Don Vito Corleone. The local mobster was once so adept at hiding his drug dealing that he'd hand-carry his trash into garbage trucks so police couldn't sift through it. He was so universally feared that cops couldn't coax cowed informants to make controlled buys. In 1991, he was arrested for shooting his brother-in-law, but the charges were dropped after the victim refused to testify.

In 1998, the Worcester Police Department's first wiretap operation resulted in a 23-year drug trafficking sentence for Mr. Trotto, and prosecutors now hope to add Mr. Harkins' murder to the inmate's notorious résumé.

They contend that the good-natured and popular Mr. Harkins, who was addicted to cocaine, was killed after reneging on a deal to lie on the stand for an associate of Mr. Trotto facing drug charges. His body was never found, but investigators believe he was fatally shot Feb. 15 of 1994 after getting into a car with Mr. Trotto and two others.

The trial this week in Worcester Superior Court is so rife with tales of threats and intimidation, all that's missing is a dead horse's head. On Monday, an associate of Mr. Trotto testifying under a grant of immunity suffered a severe memory lapse and could no longer recall incriminating statements he made to a grand jury. On Wednesday, Mr. Harkins' former roommate explained why he initially balked at telling police he saw the 36-year-old victim get into a car with Mr. Trotto before he disappeared.

"Because I was afraid for my life," John Mayotte told the jury. "I didn't want to end up dead."

He's not the only one. A mechanic testified that Mr. Trotto ordered him to dispose of the car involved in the murder and said if he told anyone, he'd be killed along with his family. And before he disappeared, even a bouncer as tough and streetwise as Mr. Harkins sat in Elm Park and cried as he told a friend that Mr. Trotto wanted him to perjure himself in court.

"He said he'd have to do it, otherwise Matteo was going to kill him," Dawn Mayotte told the jury, saying she'd never seen Mr. Harkins cry.

Throughout testimony this week, Mr. Trotto seemed relaxed and calm, conferring frequently with his defense lawyers and smiling at family members seated in the audience. He listened with interest to the parade of prosecution witnesses, some of whom looked directly at the defendant while they recounted their old fear of his power, now diluted by prison and the passage of time.

Seldom has Worcester played host to such a chilling character. Also a suspect in the unsolved murder of John Volungis, Mr. Trotto was questioned by police 12 years after Mr. Harkins vanished.

"I heard the police did it themselves," Mr. Trotto offered helpfully, adding to Capt. Sargent, "I know that doesn't sit well with you ... But you really can't put all your eggs in one basket in a situation like this."

And you really can hope that, when it comes to the cold, savage murder of Kevin Harkins, the chickens will finally come home to roost.